Integrated Early Childhood Development Center opened in Tuzla

Integrated Early Childhood Development Center has been opened in Tuzla with support from UNICEF and m:tel. The Center was established within the initiative “Best start for every child˝, in cooperation with Tuzla Municipality and the Health Center Dr. ˝Mustafa Šehović˝. This is the sixth center of such kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina, aimed at improving social services for young children through training and work with parents, with a special focus on vulnerable groups.

Integrated Center for Early Childhood Development in Tuzla will be open every day 14-19 hours for parents and children. ˝This is an improvement of a great importance for children and families in Tuzla.

From the opening ceremony

“Working with children and parents every day, we noticed that there is a need for a sustained communication with parents and children. In this Center, qualified staff will provide services and relevant information to parents. We have paediatricians, graduate nurses and psychologists. ˝- said the Coordinator of the Tuzla Center Dr. Vesna Dropic-Suljević. The Tuzla ECD Center has an intention to open the satellite centre for early childhood development in rural areas of the Tuzla Municipality.

“We in m:tel are happy to see that the result of our collaboration with UNICEF resulted in such a successful project, well accepted by the host municipality - Tuzla” – said Milenko Cvijanovic, m:tel director for Marketing and Sales.

“In parallel with support to opening of such centres, UNICEF is closely collaborating with relevant government bodies and civil society in developing the early childhood development policy. The practice of adequate support to early childhood development that way would be provided to every child, accepted by grounded in laws, bi-laws and budgets. In that way, similar centres can be opened in other municipalities and all parents would be able to get the support they need in early years of their children’s lives.” – said Florence Bauer UNICEF Representative in BiH

UNICEF will support newly formed Early Childhood Development Centre in the first six months of work, providing financial support, training and constantly improving experiences. After that period, Tuzla Municipality will take over the responsibility for financing the Centre’s costs. ˝Important is to stress that services of the Center will not be offered only in its premises, but that its employees will also perform family visits. In addition to our outstanding paediatric professionals, this is the service that I had to support.” - said Mayor of Tuzla, Mr Jasmin Imamovic. Services provided by the Centre for Early Childhood Development are raising awareness about importance of early childhood development including health, nutrition, good parenting, which again leads to achieving good results in school and successful education. An important component in the functioning of these centres is to provide home visits to customers and field work, providing in this was the efficient support to vulnerable and excluded families.